Whether it’s franchisees or support staff, there’s an art to attracting top talent
In order to succeed, a franchise needs two things: great franchisees and great support staff. Obviously, it needs other things too, but it’s remarkable how many brands seem to lack a professional, candidate focused recruitment process.
It could be to do with the fact most in-house franchise recruitment managers are from a franchising background, as opposed to having had commercial recruitment experience.
Another reason is that recruitment, like franchising, is an industry you don’t often leave - especially if you’re good at it. This means very few people take the skills learned from one industry to another.
Antiquated systems
There are exceptions, but overall the average franchise brand’s recruitment process would look pretty antiquated next to a modern commercial recruitment company. And yet the costs of recruiting the wrong franchisee are so high.
Recruitment is both big business and a highly skilled art. The recruitment industry is worth over £35 billion to the UK economy, double the contribution of the franchise industry. It would be interesting to put a figure on just how much good recruitment saves the economy and to apply that thinking to franchising
Whether we’re recruiting franchisees, finding a buyer for a resale or headhunting a new sales director, we use the same set of skills and experience to find the perfect candidates. There’s a craft to writing job descriptions, advertising, generating quality leads, creating shortlists, interviewing and making the right offer to the right person.
Recruiting franchisees
When it comes to recruiting franchisees, you can never place too much importance on knowing how and where to pitch your franchise opportunity and understanding the value of nurturing a good relationship that educates the applicant not only about becoming a great franchisee for your brand, but also franchising, funding and the realities of the commitment they’ll be making.
Since franchisors only really profit from long-term, successful franchisees, it’s vital that a brand’s recruitment strategy is as watertight as possible. It needs to be more than simply a sales and marketing process that convinces prospects to become franchisees, it must push applicants Wave to take their due diligence seriously to ensure they’re joining the right brand.
To make sure you find the best candidates to fill the roles at your franchise, you need a rigorous process that draws upon all the latest methods, technologies and techniques.
End-to-end service
Platinum Wave’s sister company, Franchise Moves, was conceived to bring the two worlds together and offer an end-to-end recruitment service to the franchise industry.
Our methods have been built upon years of experience running commercial recruitment agencies and having a 20-year understanding of what it takes to work in franchising or become a successful franchisee.
If you’re looking for a new role, we can promise you absolute discretion. Quietly looking for a new role in an industry as close-knit as franchising can be challenging, as you don’t necessarily want everyone to know you’re leaving or suddenly available.
Equally, recruiting for a newly vacant position is often something employers prefer to keep under the radar until they can proudly announce a great new appointment. Sometimes both candidates and employers want their availability or requirements shouted from the rooftops and a good recruiter will know how to do that too.
If you’d like some expert advice on how to strengthen your internal recruitment processes, you can get it from right here in the middle of the franchise industry.
The author
Suzie McCafferty is CEO of franchise consultancy Platinum Wave.
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